The Actor Review: Stunning Vision but Weak Writing

The Actor boasts striking visuals and a strong lead performance from André Holland, but its thin screenplay keeps it from reaching greatness.

But for all its visual ingenuity, the film falters in its writing, leaving much to be desired in its character development and emotional depth.

The film opens with Paul Cole (André Holland, of Love, Brooklyn), a New York actor in the 1950s, waking up battered and memoryless in an unfamiliar town. His attempts to piece his life back together are met with an eerie sense of disconnection both for him and the audience. Johnson employs a fascinating technique where characters are sometimes played by multiple actors, reinforcing the feeling of disorientation and fractured reality. Some scenes fade into black mid-action, skipping crucial moments as if they’ve been stolen from Paul’s mind, placing the audience directly into his perspective.

These stylistic choices make The Actor a unique sensory experience, but the screenplay doesn’t do enough to support its ambitions. Most of the characters, including Gemma Chan’s Edna, feel thinly written, existing more as narrative devices than as fully realized individuals. Their interactions with Paul lack depth, making it difficult to form an emotional connection to his journey.

Despite its narrative shortcomings, The Actor shines on a technical level. Joe Passarelli’s cinematography pairs beautifully with Paulina Rzeszowska’s production design, creating a world that feels both grounded in 1950s America and eerily detached from reality. The use of vignette lighting and shadow-heavy compositions enhances the noir atmosphere, pulling us deeper into Paul’s uncertainty.

Holland’s performance is a major highlight; he brings a quiet desperation to Paul’s search for identity. His expressive face carries much of the film’s emotional weight, compensating for the script’s lack of depth. His interactions especially with characters who seem familiar yet distant are some of the film’s strongest moments, hinting at something more profound beneath the surface.

Duke Johnson proves he has a singular vision when it comes to filmmaking, and his transition from animation to live-action is seamless in terms of visual storytelling. But while The Actor is undeniably stylish and conceptually intriguing, it ultimately feels hollow. It’s a film that leaves you admiring its craft but wishing for more: more depth, more engagement, more to hold onto beyond its aesthetics.

The Actor is now available to watch in select US theatres.